A couple of nights ago, my husband and I were perusing our favorite YouTube channels and caught an insightful animated clip explaining the reasons for video game compulsion. The narrator suggests that many gamers turn to their favorite RPGs or other games in order to feel valued and find purpose. In other words, video games help fill an emotional—and dare I say, spiritual—void within people.
My instinctive reaction to the video was a desire to reach through the screen and tell these people that the Creator of the universe places immense value on them, that He made them in His own image, that His Son died a painful, humiliating death in order to redeem them.
This experience recalled to my mind one of the reasons I believe RTB’s work is so important. By promoting a creation model explanation for the universe, life, and humanity, RTB’s scholars uphold the gospel message, including the biblical teaching that God made human beings, both male and female, in His own image. This is a worldview of hope; it imparts value and purpose to all human life.
The theory of evolution, on the other hand, says that humanity—and the rest of organic life—came into existence by happenstance and unguided natural processes. Similarly, naturalists such as Stephen Hawking and Lawrence Krauss assert that the universe as a whole “came from nothing.” According to the naturalistic view, human death results in extinction—no “afterlife” of any sort. Where, then, is value and purpose?
Secularists have proposed answers to this question. Many atheists will argue that we don’t need God to justify the value we place on human life or as a foundation for morality. And, indeed, I don’t believe nontheists are inherently less morally upright than Christians. People can behave with kindness and goodness without acknowledging the existence of a Creator.
Other naturalists suggest we simply choose (arbitrarily) to endow our lives with value and purpose. Some also suggest that our morality developed as a part of human evolution. However, I find naturalism an insufficient explanation or foundation for human value. Without God in the picture, it seems that we are under no obligation to assign any value to human life. Sure, our society’s laws may obligate us to do so—but views on human rights vary radically from culture to culture. Even in the United States, Princeton University bioethicist Peter Singer advocates lowering human rights to the level we currently assign to animals.
In his book Is God a Moral Monster? Christian philosopher Paul Copan observes, “The more fundamental question that atheism seems unable to answer is: How did they [humans] come to be rights-bearing, valuable persons?” He goes on to say that secular ethical systems, even if they overlap with the biblical system, remain “incomplete because they don’t offer a basis for human dignity and worth.”
In a discussion of this topic, RTB philosopher-theologian Kenneth Samples pointed out to me that naturalists tend to borrow ethical capital from the Judeo-Christian worldview because “the biblical view of humans is very powerful and very attractive.”
In 7 Truths That Changed the World, Ken describes in detail the biblical view of humans as God’s image bearers. For example, he writes, “Similar to God they [humans] are volitional, relational, immortal, and powerful—unlike any other creatures.” This image serves as the Judeo-Christian basis for human dignity and worth.
— Maureen
Resources: Listen in to Ken’s multi-part interview with Paul Copan on Straight Thinking.
- “Is God a Moral Monster? Part 1”
- “Is God a Moral Monster? Part 2”
- “Is God the Best Explanation for Reality? Part 1”
- “Is God the Best Explanation for Reality? Part 2”
- “Is Old-Earth Creationism Biblical? Part 1”
- “Is Old-Earth Creationism Biblical? Part 2”
Take Two 
August 3, 2013 at 4:23 am
“the Creator of the universe places immense value on them, that He made them in His own image,” – but, see, that’s why we assign value to our gaming actions. The principle applies equally to all games, whether foot races, lacrosse, rugby, Parcheesi, or Halo5. A game is essentially a temporary covenant relationship with covenant boundaries that are simple and clear enough that we can have fun within them. Real-world relationships are ultimately more meaningful but also (and partly because they’re) highly complex and fuzzy around the edges. Real-world relationships can also have grave consequences for failure. Games act in part like training wheels. They give us a chance to learn to navigate covenant boundaries without heavy consequences for messing up (unless you’re a sports pro, and depending on how badly you mess up!). But they’re more than that, too. They’re our own extension or echo of imago dei into our particular cultural worlds. They’re our little worlds within God’s big world, much like novels and mythic stories, but interactive.
And, yes, our successes therein feel affirming. That’s a good thing. We need affirmation to face life in a world under a curse. It’s a hard world at time, and we need to feel an internal sense of coherence and competence in order to make our way in it. So, while I agree with your argument about why we have dignity, worth, and are intrinsically moral agents, I cringe a little at the insinuation that video games somehow run counter to that, or are some kind of cheap substitute for real meaning. They’re meaningful to us because as creatures made in the image of God-in-Three-(covenantally related)-Persons, we follow His example by assigning meaning to our actions within their boundaries. They’re not a substitute for meaning, they’re a real way of learning about meaning.
August 5, 2013 at 8:04 am
Hi David,
Thank you for your thoughtful comment. I’m sorry if I gave the impression that I disapprove of video games (or any games) and the significance they hold for many people. While I don’t think I qualify as a “gamer” I do enjoy various games. My husband and I have been collecting a lot of table top games recently and were formerly involved in an RPG group (playing Seventh Sea). And, of course, we have a small collection of video games that we’ve both enjoyed. We look forward to introducing our daughter to games (once she isn’t inclined to eat the pieces). 🙂
I don’t think playing games or being really into games necessarily runs counter to the biblical basis for meaning and morality (though the morality in some games is certainly questionable). My concern is what happens to meaning and morality in the grand scheme of things when we take God out of the picture. I hope that clarifies my position a little better!
August 5, 2013 at 10:16 am
Yes, that does help, thanks. I’m impressed that you publicly admit to having played 7 Seas. Very courageous of you. 🙂
I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of how meaning and morality are to be based, and about the problem of removing God explicitly from explanations of them. We can’t really remove God from the picture, of course, but we do tend to try to turn a blind eye to Him, “suppressing the truth in unrighteousness.” But as John Frame says, knowing anything is a kind of knowing God, even if unknowingly.
As far as some games being morally questionable, I take it that’s an intentional use of understatement? 🙂 I wouldn’t want to be taken as encouraging people to play the raunchy ones or the ones that blur the distinction between good guys and bad in a way that puts the player in the position of potentially killing innocents. Killing Nazis, invading extra-terrestrials, and monsters from hell: two-thumbs up. Killing people who are trying to kill you, maybe one thumb up. Killing anyone else, highly problematic. And there’s way too much of that out there for my comfort level. Still, for Christians who find it within the scope of their calling, being knowledgeable about those games can help us understand how to be salt and light, I think. And help us understand the neo-barbarian world we find ourselves in.
August 5, 2013 at 10:32 am
I have to admit I was apprehensive when my husband invited me to join him and some friends in playing 7th Sea. I felt I was taking my geekiness into, for me, uncharted territory–but it was a lot of fun. 🙂
Overall, I think gaming is like anything else–it has good and bad points and we need to be judicious in our participation. From what I’ve seen of gamers, though, they are a very interesting and fun community of people.
August 25, 2013 at 10:33 pm
Maureen,
Your desire to help is lovely.
I wanted to contribute something I think may help you in your desire to reach out.
Some people who engage the topic of human value eventually discover something that many people never percieve and that is the fact that this controversy circles a NEED. The people NEED to feel valued. When you comprehend this NEED and the nature of it you begin to respond to it differently and comprehending that it is a need causes this need to diminish in some people.
In addition to having a source of percieved value, comprehend that there is a need for such a value that gives importance to your answer. For people who come to understand they have a need they sometimes stop being consumed with certain answers to that need and sometimes that need diminishes.
Understanding this may help you.